Mercer County Community College: James Kerney Campus

From its roots as the Evening Drawing School in 1890, the James Kerney Campus (JKC) stands today as a testimony to educational leaders whose vision and persistence have created a dynamic educational institution. The JKC serves the changing needs of thousands of students seeking educational fulfillment and personal and career growth.

In 1972, the James Kerney Foundation of Trenton donated an acre of land on the corner of North Broad and Academy streets to house MCCC's James Kerney Center.Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on Aug. 23, 1974, and the building was dedicated on May 21, 1975. The immediately prior West State Street site -- purchased for the school in the early 1900s by Henry Cooper Kelsey, a former New Jersey Secretary of State -- was sold to the state and now houses Thomas A. Edison State College. Kelsey's name lives on at the college, however, in the acclaimed Kelsey Theater on the West Windsor campus.

On June 16, 1998, in Trenton, the James Kerney Center at North Broad and Academy Streets became the James Kerney Campus of Mercer County Community College. The new facility, at North Broad and West Hanover Streets, measures 19,000 square feet and is linked by a skywalk to the main building. It houses the JKC Career Training Institute, four computer labs with Internet access, nine classrooms, a business practice firm in which students apply learned office skills, a conference room, and office space for the New Jersey Department of Labor Employment Services. A 2,000-square-foot multipurpose activity area is available for student and community use. The Learning Center on the third floor bustles with activity six days a week, with students from ages seven to 80 making good use of the center's computers.